A Teacher Turned Homeschooler

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If you have been reading A Mom's Quest to Teach for any amount of time you will know that I am certificated secondary education social studies teacher. I taught in one public school as a history teacher for 9-12 grades for a little over five years before leaving my position. Prior to teaching in a high school, I taught for many years at a metropolitan zoo and volunteered for the National Park Service. I have been involved in the education field (formal education and informal education) since I was in my early teens – first as a camp counselor and then as a classroom educator. I have wanted to become a teacher since I was in the fourth grade thanks to my fourth grade teacher. This idea was cemented in high school when I had an excellent 10th and 11th grade English teacher. Why did I pick social studies as my field? My family, from a very early age, has instilled a love of history in me so it only seemed natural to major in history.

So how did this teacher turn into a homeschooler? 

Once I finally got a job teaching in a public school, I saw how much things had changed since not only I was in school but since I wanted to become a teacher. Things were not they way they were and I guess you could say my rose-tinted glasses were removed. After several years in which there was more pain and heartbreak than wonderful moments of teaching, I decided to resign my teaching position. Not too long after that decision I became pregnant with our youngest son and a while later I had our daughter. As I read more and more about homeschooling and public education, our family made the decision to homeschool our two younger children. We allowed our teen each year to make the decision as to whether or not he wanted to stay in public school or be homeschooled.

Homeschooling Three 

At the end of the summer of 2018, we asked our teen son again what his plans were for his education. He would be going into 10th grade. There was one minor scare involving a lockdown at his school which made us really encourage him to thoroughly pray about whether he wished to remain in public school or stay home with his younger siblings and be homeschooled.

My husband and I were quite happy he decided to be homeschooled. This has led to some very positive changes for our entire family but also a huge learning curve as we went from two small children (who did not really need a lot in the way of formal education) to a teen who is still planning his future. Luckily, we have a subscription to SchoolhouseTeachers.com and I was able to plan most of his year through this wonderful online homeschooling curriculum. Over the course of the year I was able to supplement our teen's homeschooling with other items from being on the Homeschool Review Crew such as a Shakespeare resource from Hewitt Homeschooling Resources, science lessons from CrossWired Science, and more. I have also expanded our resources for his 11th grade year to include materials purchased from Timberdoodle (Exploring Government from Notgrass History).

Our younger two children are just starting official homeschooling journey. I hope that this sets them on the path of life-long learning. My husband and I love to read and learn new things and we hope that through homeschooling we are able to instill that in our three children.

Want to Learn More about Me? 

Do you and I like the same movies or books? Perhaps you love history as much as I do but would love to learn more about some famous leaders or places? Or do you have a passion for throwing kids birthday parties? On my blog, A Mom's Quest to Teach, I share a lot about myself and my family. Be sure to check out my welcome page for links and more information. Thank you for visiting!